The Information

Kat Manalac of Y Combinator speaks during Startupfest in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Y Combinator Slashes Startup Accelerator Class Size by 40%

By Kate Clark · Aug 2, 2022 2:14pm PDT

Y Combinator has cut the number of startups it is funding and training this summer by about half compared to its winter program, a spokesperson confirmed. The famed Silicon Valley accelerator responded to a downturn in the economy and in venture capital funding in reducing its class size. The move means as many as 250 companies will pitch... Y Combinator has cut the number of startups it is funding and training this summer by about half...

Tesla employees assembling a car. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tesla Builds Its Own Recruiting Software in Fresh Push to Cut Outside Providers

By Mark Matousek · Aug 2, 2022 6:00am PDT · 11 comments

Tesla has introduced proprietary software for tracking its job applicants, three current and former recruiting employees told The Information, a move that could lower hiring-related costs as CEO Elon Musk follows through on his goal to reduce the electric vehicle maker’s reliance on external software vendors. The move by Tesla marks an... Tesla has introduced proprietary software for tracking its job applicants, three current and...

A Lalamove-branded vehicle in Shanghai, China, 2018. Photo by AP.

Delivery Startup Snags Unexpected Gain From Didi’s Pain: A $13 Billion Valuation

By Juro Osawa · Aug 2, 2022 5:00am PDT

Beijing’s sweeping regulatory assault on the domestic tech sector hurt a lot of companies. But for some startups, the government’s moves knocked out the competition. Take Lalamove, a last-mile–delivery startup for business customers whose backers include Sequoia Capital China and Tiger Global Management. When Didi Global,... Beijing’s sweeping regulatory assault on the domestic tech sector hurt a lot of companies....

Oracle's office (and former headquarters) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Photo by Bloomberg

Oracle Axes U.S. Staff, Part of Plan to Lay Off Thousands

By Amir Efrati · Aug 1, 2022 9:42am PDT

Oracle's office (and former headquarters) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Photo by Bloomberg

Oracle Axes U.S. Staff, Part of Plan to Lay Off Thousands

By Amir Efrati · Aug 1, 2022 9:42am PDT

Oracle has begun to lay off employees in the U.S., a move that will impact some staff in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company was previously headquartered, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The database pioneer planned thousands of job cuts for its global workforce of 160,000 after discussing cutting $1 billion in... Oracle has begun to lay off employees in the U.S., a move that will impact some staff in the San...

Katie Haun (left) and Andreessen Horowitz's General Partner Chris Dixon. Photos by The Information, Bloomberg

Andreessen Horowitz’s Dixon Replaces Katie Haun on OpenSea Board

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 29, 2022 5:47pm PDT · 1 comment

In an unexpected move, Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Chris Dixon has joined the board of directors of OpenSea, one of the most highly valued blockchain startups, replacing former Andreessen Horowitz general partner Katie Haun, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Haun, who launched her own crypto-focused investment... In an unexpected move, Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Chris Dixon has joined the board of...

Smrti Lab co-founders Wang Lusho (left) and Wang Bowen

China’s Top Angel Investors Pour $90 Million Into Crypto Hedge Fund, Betting on Recovery in Prices

By Shai Oster · Jul 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

The stomach-churning collapse of cryptocurrency tokens, savings accounts, and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital has wiped out fortunes just as the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank did during the 2008 financial crisis. That means it’s the perfect time to buy cryptocurrencies, according to the founders of a young crypto... The stomach-churning collapse of cryptocurrency tokens, savings accounts, and hedge fund Three...

Clockwise from top-left: Keith Rabois; Mayor Francis Saurez; Lucy Guo; Animo Ventures founders Antonio Osio and Nico Berardi. Art by Mike Sullivan

After the Hype, Miami Startup Founders, Investors Aim to Show Substance of Tech Scene

By Kate Clark · Jul 28, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When Mike Shebat needed seed funding for his startup last year, he went where the money was: a popular fitness studio called Barry’s Bootcamp in Wynwood, Miami’s arts district. Venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a denizen of Barry’s, told Shebat to meet him there after the entrepreneur contacted him over LinkedIn. During and... When Mike Shebat needed seed funding for his startup last year, he went where the money was: a...

Sequoia Capital leader Roelof Botha. Photo by Getty; art by Mike Sullivan

Sequoia Capital to Open New York Office, First U.S. Outpost Outside Silicon Valley

By Kate Clark · Jul 27, 2022 12:22pm PDT

Sequoia Capital leader Roelof Botha. Photo by Getty; art by Mike Sullivan

Sequoia Capital to Open New York Office, First U.S. Outpost Outside Silicon Valley

By Kate Clark · Jul 27, 2022 12:22pm PDT

Sequoia Capital, the Menlo Park, Calif.–based venture capital firm known for its early investments in Google and Instagram, plans to open an office in New York City, its first U.S. facility outside Silicon Valley, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The move by Sequoia, the most prominent tech startup investor,... Sequoia Capital, the Menlo Park, Calif.–based venture capital firm known for its early...

Julie Wainwright, former CEO of The RealReal. Photo by Bloomberg, Art by Clark Miller

Inside The RealReal, Cost-Cutting Was a Tough Sell Even as Losses Mounted

By Malique Morris · Jul 27, 2022 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Top executives at The RealReal have been promising a path to profitability to investors and analysts since the company went public in 2019. But the online consignment store for used luxury goods—from rare $57,000 Hermès crocodile handbags to $40 T-shirts—has been losing more and more money, in part because of its... Top executives at The RealReal have been promising a path to profitability to investors and...

Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager. Photo: Bloomberg

An ‘Exceptionally High’ Bar: Investors Shift Focus in New Crypto Deals

By Aidan Ryan and Kate Clark · Jul 21, 2022 12:35pm PDT

Crypto venture capitalists are rewriting their playbooks after the brutal collapse in digital currency prices this spring. That’s dented their overall deal-making, but it has also created an opportunity for a subset of crypto startups. Blockchain startups with B2B models that aren’t as exposed to fluctuations in digital asset prices... Crypto venture capitalists are rewriting their playbooks after the brutal collapse in digital...

Discord CEO Jason Citron. Photo by Discord, Art by Clark Miller

Discord CEO Proves There’s Life Without Microsoft

By Mark Matousek · Jul 21, 2022 6:00am PDT

It could have been one of the biggest business blunders of the pandemic. In early 2021, Discord spurned a $12 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft, an eye-popping sum for a nine-year-old social communications startup whose app saw a tsunami of new users during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Around that time, Discord held acquisition talks, which... It could have been one of the biggest business blunders of the pandemic. In early 2021, Discord...

Dan Wright, who has just resigned as DataRobot CEO. Art by Mike Sullivan

DataRobot CEO Resigns Following Stock Sale Revelation

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 20, 2022 10:43am PDT · 7 comments

Dan Wright, who has just resigned as DataRobot CEO. Art by Mike Sullivan

DataRobot CEO Resigns Following Stock Sale Revelation

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 20, 2022 10:43am PDT · 7 comments

Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a year and a half after ascending to the position, according to a departure memo viewed by The Information. Wright is leaving amid tepid revenue growth and following employee uproar over the revelation, first reported by The Information, that he and... Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Announces Hiring Pause

By Erin Woo · Jul 20, 2022 9:48am PDT · 1 comment

Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of hiring for the rest of the year. In an email to employees viewed by The Information, Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior vice president at Google, said the hiring pause would not impact offers that had already been extended to applicants, but that Google... Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of...

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming.

As China’s Tech IPO Window Cracks Open, Investors See New Hope for ByteDance

By Jessica E. Lessin, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jul 20, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Investors in ByteDance are getting more optimistic that one of the world’s most highly valued private companies can move toward an initial public offering, a development that comes after years of setbacks for TikTok’s parent company. Three investors say a number of recent signs suggest the Chinese government is opening a path to a... Investors in ByteDance are getting more optimistic that one of the world’s most highly...

Former AWS CEO Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

AWS Server Chip Becomes a Not-So-Secret Weapon Against Microsoft, Google

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 11 comments

For the past decade, Amazon Web Services has maintained its edge over Microsoft and Google in selling cloud computing services by speeding up its technology and lowering prices. Over the next 10 years, a key advantage will be its Graviton microchips, which AWS developed in-house to power apps on the internet or to help customers train... For the past decade, Amazon Web Services has maintained its edge over Microsoft and Google in...

Art by Josh Brill.

VC Due Diligence Returns—With a Vengeance

By Kate Clark and Aaron Holmes · Jul 14, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Josh Brill.

VC Due Diligence Returns—With a Vengeance

By Kate Clark and Aaron Holmes · Jul 14, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In June, the founders of Duplo, a Nigerian fintech company started last year, received some disappointing news. Insight Partners, a New York–based private equity and venture capital firm, in the spring had signed an offer to lead the company’s seed round, a step that would have cemented Duplo’s relationship with one of the... In June, the founders of Duplo, a Nigerian fintech company started last year, received some...

Miguel Fernandez. Photo courtesy of Capchase

The Bank of SaaS Has $400 Million More to Lend

By Maria Heeter · Jul 13, 2022 5:00am PDT · 7 comments

Investor enthusiasm for cloud-software companies may have cooled from its heyday last year. But some investors think there’s money to be made in lesser-known startups. Capchase, a New York–based company that lends to early-stage software startups, has raised $400 million in debt from lenders including i80 Group. The two-year-old... Investor enthusiasm for cloud-software companies may have cooled from its heyday last year. But...

Mysten Labs co-founder and CEO Evan Cheng. Photo by Mysten Labs. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Startup Founded by Former Meta Crypto Execs Seeks $2 Billion Valuation

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 11, 2022 1:07pm PDT

Mysten Labs—a startup founded by former Meta Platforms employees that is building a new blockchain for decentralized applications including gaming and social media networks—is in talks with investors about raising a Series B round of at least $200 million led by FTX Ventures, according to two people with direct knowledge of the... Mysten Labs—a startup founded by former Meta Platforms employees that is building a new ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and an Apple test car. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

How Apple’s Eight-Year Quest to Build a Self-Driving Car Hit Roadblocks

By Wayne Ma · Jul 11, 2022 6:00am PDT · 12 comments

Last August, Apple sent several of its prototype self-driving cars on a roughly 40-mile trek through Montana. Aerial drones filmed the drive, from Bozeman to the ski resort town of Big Sky, so that Apple managers could produce a polished film, with picturesque mountains in the background, to show CEO Tim Cook how their costly and... Last August, Apple sent several of its prototype self-driving cars on a roughly 40-mile trek...

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, left, and CEO Safra Catz. Photos by Bloomberg; AP

Oracle Discussed Laying Off Thousands of Workers

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 8, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 3 comments

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, left, and CEO Safra Catz. Photos by Bloomberg; AP

Oracle Discussed Laying Off Thousands of Workers

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 8, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 3 comments

Oracle recently considered cost reductions of up to $1 billion that could result in thousands of layoffs as soon as August, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The proposed job cuts could disproportionately impact U.S.- and Europe-based workers in units such as marketing for software applications that automate customer service... Oracle recently considered cost reductions of up to $1 billion that could result in thousands of...